Jul 18, 2010
Posted by Lisa on Jul 18, 2010 in Authors, Reviews | 1 comment
Blurb
For centuries, vampires walked the earth undetected, feasting on humans in keeping with their ancient traditions, but now 21st century technology has left them open to detection . . .
To establish order, the Vampire Federation is born, policed by special agents like vampire Alexandra Bishop, authorised to hunt down those who violate the new code.
But rebel vampire Gabriel Stone doesn’t play by the rules and declares war against the Federation, throwing Alex and her team into turmoil.
Oblivious to the chaos in the vampire world, human Detective Inspector Joel Solomon is drawn into an unlikely alliance with Alex when he investigates a series gruesome corpses drained of their blood.
Together they are plunged into a war of good versus evil, taking them from the streets of London to the mountains of Transylvania in a battle that threatens to destroy them all. ..
I have to point out before reviewing this book that I have a huge love of vampires, the vampire mythology and most (but not all) vampire films/books. I also love the urban fantasy genre, where I find most books seem to be written by women, which seems to lead to a big focus on the romance side of things in the main part.
Uprising by Scott Mariani upon first reading the blurb sounds like it’s going to be the atypical urban fantasy novel but from the first page it becomes obvious it’s not. With Scott’s novel, vampires have rediscovered their bite. They’re not dwelling in forlorn despair over a lost love or a passion that shouldn’t be. They are dangerous, deadly and vicious.
Scott has developed an intricate tale, bringing vampires into the 21st century without removing their fangs in the process. Humans are viewed as a foodsource, not as something to be lusted after and the two groups of vampires we are introduced to hold this in common even though they have developed two completely separate ways of continuing their existence.
This story is not a book that lovers of Twilight and vampires that sparkle will enjoy as it makes no bones about the fact that beneath the veneer vampires are not human and do not see things in the same way, although Scott does add an element of romance, but even that comes with an added twist.
If you enjoy a book with bite (excuse the pun) then settle yourself in for an excellent read with characters that jump off the pages and a social system that has been well-developed and thought out with a lot of interesting twists.
Not only has Scott given bite back to the vampire genre, he’s also made an interesting twist on the case of a cross being deadly to vampires. I’m not going to ruin the story by going into detail, but I will say it’s very well done and definitely worth picking up a copy of Uprising to read.
I’m looking forward to reading the second book in the series!
Book Details:-
- Paperback: 480 pages
- Publisher: Avon (10 Jun 2010)
- ISBN-10: 1847562124
- ISBN-13: 978-1847562128
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.6 x 4 cm
Jun 15, 2010
Posted by Lisa on Jun 15, 2010 in Authors | 0 comments
Urban Fantasy is a subgenre of Fantasy, where the stories are based in contemporary real-world urban settings instead of traditional fantasy settings of mythical cities/worlds/lands. Below is a list of authors who are popular in this genre.
Cat Adams
C.T. Adams
Ilona Andrews
Jennifer Armintrout
Kelley Armstrong
Keri Arthur
Jenna Black
Francesca Lia Block
Patricia Briggs
Emma Bull
Jim Butcher
Rachel Caine
Jonathan Carroll
Mike Carey
Karen Chance
Cathy Clamp
Cassandra Clare
Shirley Damsgaard
Sylvia J. Day
Carole Nelson Douglas
Jeaniene Frost
Neil Gaiman
Laura Anne Gilman
Simon R. Green
Justin Gustainis
Laurell K. Hamilton
Charlaine Harris
Kim Harrison
J.C. Hutchins
Chris Lester
Charles de Lint
Sergey Lukyanenko
China Mieville
C.E. Murphy
Tim Powers
Tim Pratt
Kat Richardson
Rick Riordan
Matt Ruff
Jeanne C. Stein
Rachel Vincent
Terri Windling
This list is by no means complete so if I have missed off any you feel should be included, please let me know.
May 31, 2010
Posted by Lisa on May 31, 2010 in Authors, Musing | 1 comment
I have found over the last few months that there are quite a few authors who use Twitter, both to just make random tweets (like the rest of us mere mortals) and also to keep their fans up to date with their goings on. So I thought I’d share the twitter names of the ones I’ve discovered so far. If you know of any others that aren’t listed, please let me know via the comments and I’ll add them to this list. I hope all you book lovers out there find this useful!
(more…)
May 31, 2010
Posted by Lisa on May 31, 2010 in Authors, Reviews | 0 comments
Blurb
Raven Whitney is a psychic who has used her gift to help the police track down a serial killer. Now she is determined to escape the glare of recent publicity for the peace and quiet of the Carpathian Mountains. Despite her own emotional fatigue, Raven finds herself connecting psychically to another wounded individual somewhere close by. Prince Mikhail Dubrinsky is the leader of his people but, as his ancient Carpathian race grows ever closer to extinction, he is close to giving in to the heavy weight of loneliness and despair. Then a female voice enters his mind and tries to console him. Intrigued, Mikhail becomes obsessed with finding this unusual human female. From the moment their minds touch, Raven and Mikhail form a connection. But there are those who incorrectly view all Carpathians as vampires, and are determined to give their extinction a helping hand.
The concept of this particular series of stories, from what I could gather from this book, is that the male “Carpathians” (or vampires to the rest of us – they drink blood, are immortal, etc, which to me constitutes vampiric behaviour) need to find their life-mate or consign themselves to becoming some kind of monster – I think losing any kind of emotional feeling and, by all accounts, only seeing in black and white.
When I first started to read this book, I was sure it was set in the 19th century, and it was only when a computer was mentioned in passing that I realised this wasn’t the case. The novel has a very old-world feel, making me think of Bram Stoker”s Dracula (not so much in the fact that this is going to be a classic novel, but the style of writing). While Christine Feehan is, obviously, a very good writer – she has an excellent way of wording things so that you can actually visualise what she’s describing – I found this story to be quite boring. At times I paused to wonder what exactly the point in the novel was, but since I felt the same about Sherrilyn Kenyon”s first Dark Hunter book and am now a huge fan of the novels, I persevered. This isn”t the best book out there and is, in a lot of places, extremely boring to the point of making me want to cast it aside. The characters didn’t really grab me and suck me in to their world. And the whole relationship between Raven and Mikhail was too quick and accepted to be believable.
I do have the rest of the books in my To Read and Review pile and I”m hoping that, like the Dark Hunter series, they become better the more she writes.
May 30, 2010
Posted by Lisa on May 30, 2010 in Authors, Reviews | 0 comments
Blurb
What wouldn’t you wish on your worst enemy? It seems that Harry Dresden is about to find out. . .
Harry Dresden, PI and practitioner of magic, has done his best to keep his nose clean where the White Council of Wizards is concerned. Even so, his past misdeeds haven’t looked good to the Council’s Wardens – and they take their responsibility to enforce the Laws of Magic very seriously. but this has placed him in a bit of a predicament. Morgan, formerly his chief persecutor among the Wardens has been wrongly accused of treason. There”s only one punishment for that crime so he’s on the run, wants his name cleared, and needs someone with a knack for backing the underdog. Someone like Harry Dresden.
Dresden faces a daunting task. He must clear the less-than-agreeable Morgan’s name while simultaneously hiding him from the Wardens and the supernatural bounty hunters sent to find him, discover the identity of the true turncoat and, of course, avoid accusations of treachery of his own. A single mistake may mean that heads – quite literally – could roll.
And one of them might be his.
Turn Coat is book 11 in the Dresden Files series and usually, by this point, a series this long has a tendency to lose its steam somewhat and sometimes begin to flounder. Thankfully, this series isn’t one of them! While it’s possible to pick up this book without having read any of the previous ones, to really appreciate the richness of the plot you have to understand what has gone on before, to understand the dynamics of the various relationships between Harry and the other characters.
As always, Jim Butcher writes with a black humour that is absolutely wonderful. Had he been born in the right era, he’d have been applauded as a masterbard (one has to wonder if Jim can sing and play the instruments for that, but no matter, his storytelling is good enough to overlook it if he can’t!).
From the first page, you are pulled in by Harry”
s dry wit as he recounts his latest escapade and you”re right there with him, feeling every emotion and physical attack as he goes up against the skinwalker, while trying to discover who’s really behind the murder that Morgan has been set up for. Without giving too much away, Harry gets emotionally battered in this book, losing people to the vengeful nasties in this book and the ensuing battle near the end is fantastically written.
I’m yet to be disappointed by a Harry Dresden novel, and I hope that continues as I wait for the next installment with bated breath. Turn Coat is a superb addition to the series and has left me wanting more (as they always do) as well as leaving me with questions that need answering.
Ten out of ten for a wonderful tale, Jim!
Book Details
- Paperback: 544 pages
- Publisher: Orbit (4 Mar 2010)
- ISBN-10: 1841496898
- ISBN-13: 978-1841496894
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 10.8 x 3.8 cm
